Preview: Age of Apocalypse #1

Nearly 20 years after the big event comes an ongoing series set in a world ruled by an "Apocalypse Now" Wolverine.

You've seen it in Marvel Point One, and within the pages of Uncanny X-Force, and now, 17 years after the original groundbreaking alternate-reality event series took place, Marvel's finally given us an Age of Apocalypse ongoing series, written by David Lapham.

It's not exactly the AoA you may remember leaving behind back in the mid-90s, though. It's about 10 years or so in the future of that world. Apocalypse is gone, but now, some shenanigans have taken that scruffy one-handed runt named Logan and possessed him all to hell with the Archangel style madness, and thus the Canucklehead is now representing everything evil about this world.

Which means his ex-lover Jean Grey has to stand with all of the most venemous anti-mutant racists of our normal 616 universe against him. In the AoA world, these bigots – the Trask family, William Stryker of the Purifiers, Graydon Creed, etc. – are humanity's last hope. Ain't that a kick in the morality. And, incidentally, this pitch reminds me of the Mr. Show sketch "Racist in the Year 3000."

“This new Age of Apocalypse book does the impossible – it revolutionizes an old concept without a reboot,” says Senior Editor Nick Lowe. “If you’ve been reading Uncanny X-Force, you know where this is coming from and you’re already in. If you’re an Age of Apocalypse junkie, this builds on the alternate universe’s mythology is fascinating and troubling ways. And if you aren’t either and just want a ground-breaking, easy-entry book that will challenge everything you know about the X-Men, there hasn’t been a better jumping on point.”

Check out this first look at Roberto De La Torre's artwork for Age of Apocalypse #1, featuring a cover by Humberto Ramos.